It only took Uncle Lu ten days to have a working prototype of the miniaturized Crystal based warp generation engine ready for testing. The hull to be used was a former Kepler Cutter, heavily damaged during the battle but patched back up to basic functionality by the crews of the Terminus Trading Company.
The technicians saw a great opportunity in this phase of the designs. They were making huge repair facilities for visitors and Reavers, but they could repurpose some for full construction since they had the materials. If they could come up with an entirely new design of Cutter, they could make a killing selling them to mercenaries and others who were always short on vessels.
New ships weren’t easy to come by, especially small ones that were capable of faster-than-light travel. They were strictly regulated by most nations, and the designs that could be reproduced elsewhere were limited to older technologies that were much better understood, so the actual number of fast Cutters that were available was very small.
The Kepler Cutter was a diamond-shaped vessel, narrow in the front, and wide in the rear, for more rear storage room, sufficient for a Battalion of Mecha, but the Engines on the Kepler Design took a full third of the ship.
That was a huge loss of space in a small vessel, and these ones could barely sustain a warp field, being better used inside a system than to travel between them.
The vessel had currently been gutted, and the parts were put into storage for the next person who came by and needed them. The ship was little more than a bare structure now, with exterior shielding hastily patched and an experimental Warp Drive mounted in the back.
Obviously, testing it in the atmosphere was out, so the ship would be sent into orbit with a freighter that was leaving the surface, carrying only a minimal crew.
Nico was going for her System Skills, along with five other Technicians, and a single Interstellar Pilot from the fleet side of the crew. All were wearing armored exosuits, and the ones that the Technicians had picked were particularly unique.
Following Nico’s lead, they had built the Tech Adept Harness into the armor, so that they had four flexible dendrite arms and one rigid lifting arm attached. It limited their abilities to get into small spaces, but they could now do almost anything that they needed in the safety of a protective suit, and with or without atmosphere.
Max had voiced his objection to sending Nico into orbit, as the second in Command was impossible to replace, but she was too valuable to their research to keep on the ground. So instead he would be watching the entire thing from the sensor rooms of Terminus along with Uncle Lu.
There were dozens of shuttles on standby, as well as cleanup and damage prevention crews, so if something should happen, the researchers were instructed to bail on the vessel and wait to be rescued.
[Reaper 1 to Terminus Base, come in Terminus.] Nico called happily over the radio after they made orbit.
[Go ahead. We are ready for you to begin initial testing.] Max replied, wondering when Nico had made up a code name for the experimental vessel.
[Power up successful. Power generation at 60 percent of nominal capacity and rising. Power stabilized at 85 percent. Initial data sent.] Nico replied.
“Oh that is wonderful, it is just as great as I had hoped with the slight alteration to the shape and the material of the crystals.” Uncle Lu cheered.
“Well, fill me in here, I haven’t been following the design work,” Max asked.
“Current engine output is 85 percent of the designed maximum, but that is roughly six times the output of the original engines in the Cutter. With a vessel that compact, both the firepower and the speed should be close to what we need in order to progress with the new Mecha design.
The engine will still need to come way down in size of course, but we can work on that later. For now, we need to see if the new engine design can actually sustain the warp field that it was designed for.” Uncle Lu explained.
[Power up the warp field for stability tests.] Uncle Lu ordered.
There was a long pause, then Nico responded. [Field Stabilized. Taking it back offline for adjustments.]
There were ten minutes of silence, then her voice came back again.
[Adjustments successful. My System Function says that this is the best level of adjustment that the current design is capable of in terms of stability and reliability while maintaining output.]
And that was why she was in space right now. She couldn’t analyze or make those adjustments from the ground, they needed to be done inside the ship. Max could optimize them later for usability, but as far as technically correct, they were at their peak right now.
[Warp Generation back online. Power output increased 36 percent from initial attempts.] Nico added happily.
Everything in the data that they were sending down showed that the field was not only much more powerful than expected, but it was also incredibly stable. The last question was if it was properly adjustable so that they could regulate it to take them to faster-than-light speeds.
This was the really dangerous part and one that Max wasn’t looking forward to. The first test of a new FTL drive design was risky. If the field had a flaw, it could let debris through, punching holes in the ship and tearing it apart in an instant.
But Max did have faith in this team, and his System said that the field was good, and gave him suggestions on how to alter it for adjustability.
Max sent those up to Nico and waited while they checked every power system again before they tried to actually move the ship.
[All Green. Let’s blow this popsicle stand.] Nico informed them a few minutes later.
[Exellent, excellent. Prepare for transition.] Uncle Lu responded with a big smile on his face.
“What is a popsicle stand and why does she want to blow it up?” The researcher asked Max quietly.
Max burst into laughter and grabbed the Mic.
[Transition in 5, 4, 3, 2, NOW]